Thursday, September 27, 2012

Burlington has a connection with Apeldoorn, a City in the Netherlands.

We live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada and we love it here.A couple of month ago I wrote on my blog that we have a twin City in the Netherlands and the City is Apeldoorn.
Burlington is a beautiful City. History is all around us, every day of our lives. It is in the names of the streets....in the way we earn our living.....and the traditions we carry down from one generation to the next. It's important to be familiar with history, especially within our own.... It should be an ongoing story..... we should understand where we have come from, that's how you begin to understand how you came to be who you are today.

Earlier this summer, the City of Burlington was approached by members of the Mundialization Committee with a request to formally change the name of the park on Elgin Street to Apeldoorn Park in honor of our twin City in the Netherlands.Council agreed to have community consultation in the form of an online survey that was posted on the city's website. The results are now in: and Burlington residents are in favor of changing the name of Elgin Park to Apeldoorn Park.

On April 17, 1945, Canadian soldiers liberated the City of Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. Subsequently, Apeldoorn held massive parades every five years to honor its Canadian heroes. In 2005, Burlington and Apeldoorn formally celebrated that bond by becoming twinned Cities.

In 2007, City Council agreed to a program where Burlington would design a park named for Apeldoorn and Apeldoorn would do the same for Burlington.

Elgin Park in Burlington, was identified as the ideal location to carry the Apeldoorn name. The park was slated for redevelopment, and had since been redesigned in consultation with City officials in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, our twin City.

This is Canada lane, a street in Apeldoorn,the Netherlands.

This tree was planted on December 29 1945 by Lieutenant-General G.G.Simonds, commander of the second Canadian Army Corps, which liberated the Netherlands.

This is the text on a plaque, which is situated at the Loolane, near the "Grote Kerk" . It is one of the remembrance of the liberation of Apeldoorn by the Canadians.
The planting of the tree (ofcourse it was a Canadian Maple) was also 'birth' of the Canada lane (former Maria lane), which starts at this point.

Another one is the monument "Man with two hats".

Mysterious figure,which seems to be waving both hands with a hat in each one.This is a monument to mark the 55th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands and to serve as a lasting reminder of the role of Canadian soldiers in securing that Freedom. The monument symbolizes the historic bond between Canada and the Netherlands.

In November an annual memorial takes place around the monument, in Apeldoorn to honor the 7000 Canadian war victims during the liberation of the Netherlands. In 2005 a special plaque, a gift of the Canadian Government General Adrienne Clarkson, was unveiled.

The special plaque.

Thank you Canada!

The monument is situated nearby the entrance of "Het Loo Palace".

In Ottawa two years after the unveiling of the original monument (with the same name)as in the town of Apeldoorn in the Netherlands, this monument was unveiled in 2002 , by Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. This statue is a copy of the Dutch one, a gift of the Netherlands as a big Thank You for the role of the Canadian soldiers in the liberation of their country. It is now the National Monument to the Canadian Liberators. You could also call the monument 'The Man with Two Faces' On one side he is abundantly waving with a hat in each hand and on the other side he is quite melancholic and it seems like there are teardrops in his eyes.

This is a copy of the statue, a gift from the Netherlands as a Thank You.

This plaque was presented to Canada and sits at the foot of the statue in Ottawa.

In Apeldoorn is a beautiful park, which is called Resistance park . May 2010 Mayor de Graaf of Apeldoorn unveiled a monument in honor of fourteen resistance fighters, who were active in Apeldoorn during World War 2 and engaged in sabotage, attacks and forgery of documents. Some of them were arrested and executed, others died in German camps.
The names of these fighters are engraved in fourteen granite stones, which have a plosihed surface with the name of each of these resistance fighters; a simple but impressive monument. In June 2011 three more names-and stones- were added and now there are seventeen stones in this monument. With this monument the park became a real 'resistance fighters park'

Monument of Resistance-Fighters-Park in Apeldoorn.

Seventeen granite stones, each with the resistance fighters name engraved. They died so we could live.They gave their life so we could live in peace!